


Autoclave

by allegheny



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mutants, Angst, Chase is stubborn and hates himself, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mutant!Chase, Philadelphia Phillies, mentions of David Wright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:34:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21660475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allegheny/pseuds/allegheny
Summary: I am this great, unstable mass of blood and foamAnd no one in their right mind would make my home their homeMy heart's an autoclaveJimmy doesn't care that Chase is a mutant. Chase does, though.
Relationships: Jimmy Rollins/Chase Utley
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6
Collections: MLB Offseason Shortform Ficathon





	Autoclave

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [eovaldi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eovaldi/pseuds/eovaldi) in the [mlb_offseason_shortform](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/mlb_offseason_shortform) collection. 

> **Prompt:**  
ANGST!!!!!
> 
> **AU LOWDOWN**: an X-men AU, essentially, except mutations don't have large range and destructive potential, so vigilante heroes are rare and mutants are less of a "security concern", but are heavily discriminated against.

It’s surprisingly easy to forget that Chase could kill him in less than a second when he’s holding his head between his hands.

“You’re fucking around with a weapon, Jimmy.” Chase says dryly as he pulls his boxers back on, in the deadpan way he does when he’s not quite upset but not quite comfortable. “You can’t be forgetting that.”

It's such a dramatic way to put it, so Chase in the way Chase is so intense about some things, but so not-Chase in the way that Chase is a no-bullshit guy.  
Then again, Jimmy thought a lot of things were not-Chase until he discovered Chase could shoot _blasts of photon energy_ from his hands, and consequently was hiding a whole lot of stuff from the world and, incidentally, Jimmy.  
Jimmy doesn't exactly blame him for lying, because as far as he knows, the rule that says mutants can't play in Minor or Major League baseball is still very much a thing. So if he were Chase he wouldn't really go around telling the dude whose cock he's sucking about his whole deal, not until he was really sure he wanted to add insult to injury and get himself into a secret fucking gay relationship, which is _totally_ what you want to do when you're already not supposed to be on the roster.

Jimmy's known Chase for what— four, five years. He's not gonna beat around the bush: he likes the guy. He liked him enough to trust him not to fuck up his shit when he decided that kissing him after getting their ass handed to them by the Rockies last October would be a totally great idea. He likes him enough to let himself risk his career because Chase makes him laugh and gives great head. And yeah, the fact Chase could, if he chose to, pulverize anything he wanted to in a five foot range, is, well, kind of jarring. But hey, what can you do.

It _is_ a little bit fucked up to think you can know a guy for half a decade, know his favorite food (avocado), his favorite breed of dog (pits), the name of his parents (David, Terrell), where he played Cape League (Cotuit, wherever that is) and exactly how he likes to be fucked (slow, deep, hard, a lot of neck biting) only to find out his name isn't even Chase (it's Cameron), that he went to a dodgy boarding school for mutants most of his teen years (and got his ass beat on the daily there), and that he’s living every day scared shitless that someone will decide to browse the graduation archives of the Sierra Specialized School, make the connection, and tell everyone that Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillie and homo sapiens sapiens, received a diploma confirming he had complete control of his mutation, thank you very much, and could be employed at the kind of jobs mutants had, like trash collection and nothing that has to do with kids.

“Don’t say that.” Jimmy mumbles against the pillow, watching Chase stumble into his pants.

“I’m just being honest, man.” Why can’t Chase have a lie-in for once in his life? A man’s trying to get a cuddle in, but there Chase goes, walking up and down the hotel room looking for his clothes. “I could literally blow you up right now.”

“But you’re not gonna.” Jimmy says lazily, stirring his waist back under the covers because he’s cold without a nice toned body by his side.

“I can’t make any promises.” Chase replies, going over to the mirror to inspect his face, stopping on his scar for a few moments.

Now, Jimmy knows now that Chase has been through some pretty fucked up stuff at that school. He keeps repeating it wasn't like David Wright said on the news, but Jimmy doesn't know. Seems to him that a hall monitor slamming him into a door handle so hard it sliced his chin open isn't so far from throwing kids down the stairs like Wright said happened a _his_ Specialized School. And Jimmy isn't one of these emotionally stunted guys. His mama taught him that a real man is in touch with his feelings, so he can help those around him and himself. He may be crazy, what with the whole falling into his teammate's bed and then falling for him, but he's not stupid. He knows Chase is trying to push him away because he can't cope. Now, it's not exactly surprising that Chase doesn't know how to deal with his emotions, that unsmiling motherfucker, but the point is, this whole thing is seriously starting to get on Jimmy's nerves.

"Okay, what?" He balks, sitting up in bed. "Who the fuck says that?"

Chase stalls, his eyes shifting from his image in the mirror to Jimmy.

"I'm just joking." he says, flatly.

"Like hell you are." Jimmy groans, rolling his eyes. "What's even your deal, Chase?"

Oh, now Chase can't make eye contact, can he? He's looking down at his feet now. And Jimmy feels bad, sure, he's an empathetic kind of guy, romantic kind of guy, but he's kind of more than tired of being constantly reminded that he's a fucking idiot who thinks a guy who both doesn't know where to stop and also can shoot deadly lasers from his hands is a total match for him.

“You trying to get rid of me? Trying to scare me off, Chase?” Jimmy pushes on, realizing now he’s quite pissed off.

Chase’s mouth narrows down to a line, which isn’t saying much because he hasn’t got much in the way of lips, but still.

“I’m trying to protect you.” He says through gritted teeth. “I’m not like Wright and his cute little watery magic tricks and his... mutant pride.” There’s so much disdain in those two words Jimmy almost cringes — Jesus.

Chase huffs, turning away from the mirror.

“You just don’t get it, you don’t know— all I can do is destroy things.”

His eyes drift to the magazine on the dresser, the one that sparked the argument which sparked the sex last night. Jimmy watches him pick it up. _Mutant Baseball League Star: “Mutants aren’t dangerous”_. Chase raises it up, locking his eyes with Jimmy, looking really fucking ticked off all of a sudden.

“I’m just trying to make you understand— they’re right. About me. And this _fucking moron_” He taps Wright’s smiling face angrily, “Is wrong. I AM dangerous.”

Jimmy just sits there because he might as well let the man have his tantrum. Chase throws the magazine onto the bed, and Jimmy feels a chill go through the room. If Chase hadn’t just been so insistent that he was good for nothing but wrecking shit, he could have sworn his power was turning down the thermostat with his mind. Chase pulls both of his hands through his longish brownish curls, messing up his bedhead even worse, strands sticking up. He looks genuinely upset, with his eyes gleaming and his weird saggy cheeks that Jimmy thinks are cute all red.

“I met you because I’m a selfish fuck and I wanted to play real baseball, not— Mutant League. So I’m not trying to get rid of you. I’m giving you an out, dude.”

And Jimmy feels a little guilty, but not as much as he feels sorry for Chase, for how much he hates himself like no middle-class white guy usually does, like no guy with that kind of smugness and unpretentious confidence in his game ought to. He lets himself sigh.

“I don’t want an out, man.” He says, kindest as he possibly can. “And you fucking know that too!” He remarks, raising his eyebrows. Then, after Chase doesn't answer, “I ain’t scared of you."

Chase's face hardens. Jimmy can't believe he's s dead-set on bombing their— whatever it is that they have. Maybe it's more one-sided than he thought.

"Well, you should be."

He grabs his t-shirt on the floor, pulls it over his head, and heads towards the door, picking up his jeans.

"What are you doing?" Jimmy sighs. Chase can't ever admit he's wrong.

"I'm leaving."

"In your boxers? From my room? You're not even taking your room key?"

"Yes." Chase snarls, as stubborn as ever.

And Jimmy knows there's nothing he can do to change his mind for now. But Chase is hard-headed and proud, not unreasonable, so he'll get a grip eventually, well, Jimmy can only hope.

"Okay then. Go."

And so the door slams behind Chase.

**Author's Note:**

> I might do more from this AU, actually, it's a shared AU.   
If you liked it, please leave a comment!


End file.
